Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-09
n. True Imwardness.

The powerful interests opposed 10 the
public alton by the State of the school
text books are taking advantage OF a
serious error of the Superintendent OF
State Printing tor the purpose of preJu'
dicing the entire scheme. 1t seems that
the fund for doing the general State
printing was prematurely exhausted by
the extraordinary expenditure for work
done for the last session of the Legisla
ture, and that in this dilemma the Su'
perintendent continued the ordinary
work of his department by drawing
money from heptext.book printing fund
to keep it going. The result was that
both funds were wrecked short time
before the Both of June, the end of the
fiscal year. We believe that the amount
diverted from one fund to the other was
about $4,000. On the strength OF this
error. by which the State loses nothing
for the money was spent for legiti'
mate public work - the school
book ring and their organs set
mp howl gainst the whole textbook
scheme. They at once assume that the
State has made a failure of the work
and treat mere error of judgment as ii
it were an evid ence of corrupt diversion
of public funds. The diversion ought
never to have occurred. The SuPerin-
tendent should have sacredly reserved
the moneys appropriated for the produc.
tien OF the SC hool. books to that purpose
alone; but unless the assailants Of the
State plan can show that this diversion
has in some material way injured the
scheme by raising the price of the books
or lowering their standard of excellence.
the mi,applica ton of the money does
mot help their case. The simple fact is
that $40, 900 of the States money has
been used fer one kind Of public work
when it should have been used
for another. There has been
nothing lost, and the money taken from
the school book fund will have to be paid
back. The text. book problem has lost
nothing of its force by the mistake. ltstill
remains fact that the books can be
cold to the children at less than one. half
their previous cost; that the prices fixed
for the books by the State Board of Ed.
ucation is the actual cost to the State Of
their manufacture; that the State is con.
ferring q great b DON upon the people by
publishing the books. 1t may be we'll to
give the public an idea of the Interior rea-
sons for the p owerful effort now made to
break down the State enterprise. The
school. book ring pervades every State in
the Union, and tinds its immense profits
in its systematic forcing of the books of
the combination upon every State in the
Union. Not only this, but it compels
frequent changes of the books thus
marketing its publications upon the
schools with unnecessary redundancy.
A all the school-book publishers in the
United States are leagued together, they
thus hold the interior lines on all the
books used by the schools. They could
afford to lose the custom of California:
but it would eventuate in ruin to them
for California to successfully carry out
the present enterprise of publishing its
own school books. For II the scheme in
this State becomes unquestionably sue
cessful, other States will follow its ex.
ample, and in short time the occupa-
ton of the great school book ring would
be gone. Hence, no effort will be left
untried to cripple and destroy the Cali.
fornia scheme. To do go, they will seize
upon every straw; they will make noun
tains out OF mole.hills; they will mis-
represent and magnify. In short, they
will resort to any kind of tactics 10 kill |
the plan to furnish the children with |
school books at cost.